Casualty units for drunks and minor injury victims could be set up in town centres in mid-Essex for next New Year's Eve, to cut down on the influx of drink-related cases at Broomfield Hospital's emergency department.
The 'drunk tanks' could be set up in town centres including Chelmsford and Braintree, depending on the outcome of a fact-finding mission launched for this New Year's Eve by Mid Essex Hospitals Trust.
A paramedic was for the first time based at the accident and emergency unit at Broomfield Hospital for this New Year's Eve to assess whether people brought in by ambulance could have been treated at a mobile town centre unit.
A spokeswoman for the trust said: "There are two reasons why we are basing a paramedic in accident and emergency for New Year's Eve.
"The first is to speed up the turn around of ambulances and the second is to carry out a fact-finding mission
"The results will help us to decide whether to set up minor injury and drunk tanks in town centres for next New Year's Eve, similar to the schemes run in other areas such as Norwich."
Published Wednesday December 31, 2003
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